Experts say Zika is to blame for a surge in cases in Latin America of microcephaly – a serious birth defect in which babies are born with unusually small heads and brains. The UN agency also predicted the Zika risk in August would drop since it will be the South American winter and there should be fewer mosquitoes to transmit the virus.
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Gabby Douglas is not among the athletes anxious about the Zika virus.
Day, who has two children with wife Ellie, has plans to add to his family in the future and as such is seeking out further information on the virus.
“It’s hard to say right now”, Day told reporters after shooting a one-under-par 71 in the second round of the Memorial tournament in Dublin, Ohio.
“We’re just really trying to monitor what’s going on and make an educated decision because obviously we’re not done having kids”.
With fellow Australian Marc Leishman already withdrawing from selection for Zika fears and Adam Scott pulling out for scheduling reasons the Australian team is now in flux.
“We have to see an independent doctor, not just a PGA Tour doctor”. There are a lot of guys on the fence about it because they don’t want to put themselves in harms way.
“I don’t think it’s an Olympic issue, and I don’t think it’s a Rio issue”.
Earlier this month, 150 health experts from across the globe issued an open letter, urging the WHO to delay or cancel the games in Brazil.
The World Health Organization has also said there is strong scientific consensus that Zika can also cause Guillain-Barre, a rare neurological syndrome that causes temporary paralysis in adults. “I just think it’s a medical issue attached to what happens if I go there, get it and bring it back”. Dr. Tom Frieden, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, last week said travel to the Olympics would represent less than one quarter of 1 percent of all travel to Zika-affected areas, and that the risk was low except for pregnant women.
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Brazil has been especially hard-hit since Zika began spreading in South America past year, with almost 1,300 babies having been born there with irreversible brain damage since then.
